Bounce back seasons: Mehock champs persevere after tough 2023 meet

MANSFIELD — Making it to the top of the awards podium in Saturday’s 91st Mehock Relays completed terrific comeback stories for three area athletes.

Madison senior Nevaeh Lewis won the 100 in a school record 12.15 seconds after pulling a hamstring in last year’s prelims and scratching from the finals.

A BIG DAY: A robust performance: Lex hits it out of the park, wins 91st Mehock

Crestview senior Wade Bolin won the discus with a personal-best toss of 172 feet after being sidelined all of last season by a torn ACL.

And Galion senior Miranda Stone swept the throws after fouling her way out of the discus competition last spring.

Not to say there weren’t a few tense moments this time around for one of them.

“(Bolin) almost didn’t make it out of prelims with a 134 (footer),’ Crestview coach Tim Kuhn said. “We were sweating bullets.”

Bolin allayed his coach’s fears with his second big performance in three days. On Thursday night he threw the disc 166-2 for a title at the Ontario Relays.

“Doing indoor (track) for the first time really helped me get back into it,” said Bolin, who also finished third in Saturday’s shot put. “I was doing a lot of rehab to get back as soon as possible. There’s also been good coaching .. everything came into play.”

To put Bolin’s 170-footer in perspective, the winning throw in last year’s Division III state meet was 175-2. His throw at Mehock would have earned him third place in Columbus.

“I’m just trying to get that school record (188) and go as far as I can at state,” he said. “Coaching, lots of reps … I’m doing whatever I can to get better.”

Lewis tried not to think about last year’s misfortune when she got in the starting blocks Saturday.

“I kept a (positive) mindset and made sure I stretched and made sure I didn’t get tight or cold,” she said. “My goal is to crack 12 seconds. That was my goal coming into the season.”

Stone, who was sixth in last year’s DII state meet in the shot put, looks even better right now in the discus. She threw 142-11 last week at the Lex Invite and 140-7 at the Ontario Relays just 48 hours before Mehock.“I had a really consistent series at Ontario – 136, 136 and 140,” she said. “I’d like to get it to where all of my throws are over 140 feet.”

Stone’s winning throws Saturday were 135-2 in the disc and 39-4.5 in the shot. Her PR in the latter is a school record 41-11.25.

The Duke University commit isn’t shooting for a specific distance in either of her specialties.

“A state championship is the ultimate goal,” she said. “Numbers-wise, I try not to put a ceiling on it. I wanted to sign (with a college) on National Signing Day to get it out of the way, so I could focus on this season.”

Shelby had a pair of Mehock champs. Madison Henkel won the girls long jump at 18-9.5 and Marshall Moore won the boys 800 in 2:01.3. Henkel’s outstanding effort would have been good for a third-place medal in last year’s DII state meet.

Three of the field event champs on the boys side were underclassmen: Crestview sophomore Liam Kuhn in the pole vault, Galion sophomore Jacob Chambers in the long jump and Clear Fork freshman Davis Hoeflich in the high jump.

Kuhn cleared 13-6 for his title, proving he could be just as good as a solo act as he was last year when he and teammate Shawn Bailey pushed each other all the way to the state podium. Bailey was fifth and Kuhn sixth, with a PR of 14-2.

“I got 14 this year at a home tri-meet and I was over 14 here, but I hit the bar on the way down,” Kuhn said. “I send (Bailey) all the videos of my jumps and he critiques me, telling me what I can do better. He’s having fun in college and I’m going to have fun this year seeing if I can beat him. His best for us was 14-9.”

Kuhn entered the competition Saturday at 12-6 and made every height on his first attempt until the bar was set at 14-0

“That’s really what you want to do,” Kuhn said. “You want to make sure you get that first attempt because that will help (limit the wear and tear) for the long season ahead.”

Chambers, the reigning D2/3 state indoor long jump champ, went 21-4.25 for his Mehock title. He was a quadruple champ one week earlier at the Lex Invite and wasn’t that far from pulling it off again in the Relays. After having the best prelim times in the 100 and 200, he finished third in both, breaking 11 seconds in the former (10.87 in the finals and 10.81 in the prelims). He also closed fast in the 4x100 and might have won it if the race had been five yards longer. Instead the Tigers settled for third.

“I’ve got to work on my starts,” he said. “I had some really rough starts. If those come along, my times will get even better.”

After high-jumping 6-4 for a Lex Invite title, Hoeflich went one inch higher at Mehock as he continues to work on a new approach after owning last year’s best jump in the nation by an eighth-grader (6-6).

“It’s great,” he said of his Mehock gold medal. “Maybe I can win it the next three years, too.”

Hoeflich revealed that he hurt his left ankle, his push-off leg, in his first basketball game of the season, but said it’s getting better every day.

“I was wearing an ankle brace for awhile,” he said, “but it’s getting stronger.”

Coach Eric Beck likes how Hoeflich is refining his technique despite his breakout spring last year.

“We embrace the process, not just the results,” Beck said. “I use a long-term model and I want them to peak when it’s important, when they’re upperclassmen. Davis has a super short memory when he jumps good and a super short memory when he jumps bad. He’s just so mentally tough.

“I think he’s going to continue to do great things. If he has to take a couple of steps back in order to level up, we’re going to go ahead and do that.”

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Bounce back seasons: Mehock champs persevere after tough 2023 meet